{"id":224358,"date":"2025-02-20T11:14:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=224358"},"modified":"2025-02-20T11:14:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:14:49","slug":"red-hot-chili-peppers-seeking-350m-in-masters-catalog-sale-with-wmg-leading-the-bid-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/red-hot-chili-peppers-seeking-350m-in-masters-catalog-sale-with-wmg-leading-the-bid-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Hot Chili Peppers seeking $350M in masters catalog sale, with WMG leading the bid (report)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/a> are looking to sell their recorded masters catalog, with the iconic rock band seeking about $350 million for their collection of hit recordings.<\/p>\n

The potential sale was reported<\/a> by Billboard<\/i> late Wednesday (February 19), citing sources. The catalog includes popular tracks such as Under The Bridge, Californication, Dani California <\/i>and Give It Away.<\/i><\/p>\n

The catalog reportedly generates an estimated $26 million<\/b> in annual revenue, primarily from recordings released through Warner Music Group<\/b>. The sale is said to include the band\u2019s 13 studio albums and additional releases issued by WMG in the US.<\/p>\n

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While the status of the band’s first four EMI<\/b>-released studio albums remains unclear, sources told Billboard <\/i>that these rights may also be included in the offering, contributing about $1 million<\/b> to annual revenue.<\/p>\n

The report comes four years after the band was reported to have sold<\/a> their music publishing rights to Hipgnosis<\/b> Songs<\/b> Fund<\/b> for about $140 million <\/b>to $150 million<\/b>.<\/p>\n

If the band achieves their asking price for the masters, their combined music asset sales would reach roughly $500 million<\/b>, Billboard <\/i>noted. Attorney Eric Greenspan<\/b> from the law firm Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobster Younger & Light<\/b>, who handled<\/a> the publishing deal in 2021, is reportedly managing the recorded music catalog sale.<\/p>\n

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Sources told Billboard <\/i>that the final deal might land between $325 million <\/b>and $340 million<\/b>. Based on Billboard’s<\/i> estimates, the catalog’s net label share (NLS) or gross profit is approximately $20 million <\/b>annually, after deducting production, distribution, and other expenses. However, some non-strategic suitors report hearing figures closer to $15 million<\/b> in NLS.<\/p>\n

At the projected sale price, the deal would represent potentially 17 times NLS at $20 million<\/b> annual profit, or 22-23 times at $15 million<\/b>, according to the report. This valuation structure suggests the deal may be more attractive to major music companies rather than private equity firms.<\/p>\n

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While some sources told Billboard <\/i>that WMG may be the leading buyer with a deal potentially already in place, other sources said negotiations are still ongoing.<\/p>\n

The Red Hot Chili Peppers recently performed<\/a> at the Kia Forum<\/strong> at the FireAid<\/strong> benefit show on January 30 for wildfire relief efforts in Los Angeles. The FireAid benefit concerts drew 50<\/strong> million<\/strong> viewers<\/a>, and with donations still pouring in, the campaign\u2019s leaders say they expect to raise more than $100 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a deal is sealed at that price, the band will have amassed some $500 million for their recorded music and publishing rights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":216733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[370,133679,361,306,418],"class_list":["post-224358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-emi","tag-recorded-music-rights","tag-red-hot-chili-peppers","tag-warner-music","tag-warner-music-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}